Direct Contradiction
by SandrinePenn
Summary: Everything they knew was in direct contradiction.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It's a direct contradiction, really: the dead, invincible cheerleader. It's a direct contradiction of everything that she had known, everything that he had thought was true, and most certainly everything that they all thought was sure.

If the invincible cheerleader wasn't truly invincible, then could he really fly? Could she really become another person? Was he really able to read minds?

It was a direct contradiction of everything they thought they understood.

Of course, none of that matters when you're about to destroy the city of New York.


	2. Run

Nathan stared at Mohinder for a long moment without blinking, breathing, or showing any signs of life at all. After a tense silence, he narrowed his eyebrows.

"You know I can fly, right?"

Mohinder sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, but…" Nathan held up his hand.

"Stop. Just stop."

"Nathan…"

"You listen to me: I am not here to be studied, prodded, or made an example of. I can fly and my brother can do… things. We're not circus animals," he spat, gesticulating madly.

"What?" Peter asked, stepping into solidity. Nathan breathed out slowly and looked down at the ground.

"Of course," he mumbled. Mohinder disguised a grin behind his hand as Peter looked from one man to another, confused.

"Seriously, what?"

* * *

"Claire!" Lyle screamed as he jumped the last four steps to the landing, "Dad says get your hiney out of bed or you're going to be late!"

"Dad definitely did not say 'hiney,'" Claire hollered back, twisting her hair into a messy bun.

"Whatever, just get down here!"

"I'm coming! Ouch," she swore as the elastic snapped and raised an angry red welt on her hand. Watching almost bored as the welt disappeared, Claire shook her head and stuck her tongue out at her reflection before grabbing her purse and heading out of her room.

A flash of light and screaming pain racing down her spine were the last thing she remembered.


	3. Hide

For a long moment, Claire forgot how to breathe. Searching the room with her eyes, as she was unable to move her body, she tried to get her bearings. Cold: check. Dingy: check. In descript: Check.

"Great," she thought, mentally rolling her eyes, "Not only did I get kidnapped, it's cliché too."

"Who said anything about kidnapping?" a voice said, seemingly from no where. Claire looked around, searching for the source, before settling on the practically unnoticeable cop in the corner. "You're not in danger, Claire."

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, intrigued more than scared.

"Matt Parkman," the cop answered, stepping into the dim light.

"Did you read my mind?" she asked, feeling stupid for even asking. Of course he did; he was one of Them. Matt Parkman smiled almost embarrassedly.

"Sorry. Audrey, you can untie her," he said, regarding someone behind him. Struggling to twist in her chair, Claire was suddenly free and falling.

"Ouch," she gasped as her knees collided with concrete. Matt groaned and rolled his eyes, offering Claire a hand up.

"Nice," he said to the woman he'd called Audrey. She shrugged and returned to the drooping doorway. "We knew there was no way you would have come on your own volition."

"Come where, exactly?" Claire asked as she brushed her legs off. "I mean, where are we?"

"New York," Matt and Audrey responded in unison. Claire's mouth dropped.

"What?!" she spouted, her heart lurching. "My parents are going to freak!"

"Trust us," Audrey said grimly, "It's about to be the least of their worries."

Two thousand miles away, in Odessa, Texas, three cops stood in a circle around the mangled body of a tall, black man.

"That's him," the spectacled man named Bennet said, his face showing no emotion. "That's the Hai..."

A second later, all three cops were dead.


	4. Duck

Nathan ran full out down the deserted alley way, swinging to the left and grabbing Peter by the scruff before launching into the air.

"What the..."

"Claire," Nathan roared against the rushing wind, "Is in big trouble."

* * *

"I'm not sure I follow," Mohinder said quietly into his cell phone.

"Gone."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but when I went up to check on her, she was gone."

"And Jean-Luc?"

"Dead. Sylar killed him, along with the three officers tailing him. I barely got away."

"Fix this Bennet, or..."

"Or what, Dr. Suresh? Don't you dare forget who is working for whom."

Mohinder sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch, careful not to awaken Simone or Isaac, both asleep sitting up.

"Just fix this." With a click, he ended the call, before standing and padding into his bedroom, closing the door a bit more swiftly than he had intended.

"Be quiet!" Simone and Isaac grumbled in unison, twisting into each other.

* * *

"Is someone going to explain to me why I was snatched from my bed and teleported two thousand miles without so much as a, "Hey, how about you come with us instead of staying with your murderous, mind-erasing, maniacal father," Claire exasperated, crossing her arms about her chest, and narrowing her eyes in Matt's direction.

"Jeez... why don't you tell us what you _really _think," he snarked. Claire looked him, disgusted.

"You can read minds!"

"She has a point," Audrey offered lamely.

"Shut it..."

"I'm just saying..."

"Seriously," Matt snapped, "Both of you, shut up, I hear something."

A second later, Nathan and Peter burst in through the tinted picture window over Audrey's head.

"Jesus," Claire cried, covering her head and neck with her arms. A moment of tinkling glass and swearing passed before Nathan and Peter straightened up. Brushing off, Nathan turned to face the other three, all wearing the same incredulous look on their faces.

"Look, I had to take aim at a 6X6 pane of glass, going oh-my-god-hundred miles an hour, carrying two hundred pounds of dead weight with one arm. Will you cut me some slack?"

"It's just really hard to be indiscrete and stealthy when you come crashing in here like..."

"Please don't say Rambo or something stupid like that," Peter griped, crouching next to Claire. "Hi."

Claire smiled and squeezed Peter's hand. "Hi."

"Okay, great, she's safe," Nathan said to Matt. "The question I have is why the hell is she safe here?" Matt and Audrey exchanged glances.

"Funny story."


End file.
